Live Review : Fozzy + The Hot Damn! + Pistols at Dawn @ Academy 2, Manchester on February 17th 2023

There comes a point in which most people decide to pick up a hobby outside of their usual day job to pass the time. Usually, they rely on relaxing, menial ventures such as fishing, brewing homemade ale, or getting a dog. This wasn’t enough for former WWE champion Chris Jericho, who in 1999 decided his extra curricular venture was to start a band and tour the world. This resulted in the formation of Fozzy. Initially an Ozzy Osborne cover band, Jericho along with Guitarist Rich Ward and then drummer, Frank Fontsere, moved away from dishing out covers and decided to focus on their own project and thus, the Fozzy we know today as born. 

Fast forward 25 years, Fozzy have released 8 Albums, completed countless tour, and can be considered, for Jericho, not just a hobby, but a second job entirely. February 2024 sees the band embark on their “Spotlight On UK” tour,. This extensive 10 date tour sees them cover the length and breadth of England Scotland and Wales, playing in a small venues that house just a fraction of the audience that a wrestlemania headlining, arena bothering wrestling star would be used too. 

The first band that Fozzy decided to rake on the road with them are Pistols at Dawn. Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, Pistols at Dawn are all about groove, massive riffs and stadium ready choruses. The tone of their lone guitarist is absolutely huge, with his low chugging notes engulfing Manchester Academy 2 in a wall of sound. This brought with it some technical limitations, as it meant the vocals were completely swallowed up in the mix, and made it hard to hear the softer, quieter notes coming from the mic. Despite this, their vocalist has a voice powerful enough to cut through this when the song demanded. This gave an impression that Pistols at Dawn write their songs with the chorus in mind and somewhat wing it in the verse. These choruses massively hit on most occasions, so there is absolutely nothing wrong with this style of songwriting.  

You can tell that their guitarist was vying for the spotlight against his fellow band mates, be that through extensive moments in which it’s just him and his light up red guitar, or his use of Kirk Hammett, Wah Pedal style guitar solos. Sometimes this hits as more often than not the song dictates a passage in which an extensive guitar solo is necessary, other times it just seems massively self indulgent. Overall Pistols at Dawn were a decent start to the night. When they hit, they hit well, however it seemed at certain times like a showcase of individual ability, as opposed to flashing their credentials as a unit. This led to issues with sound balance and flow of their set. They’ll have made a lot of new fans tonight however, and rightfully so, as they are a perfect warmup for a band like Fozzy and would’ve provided enough excitement and a decent repertoire of songs to get people who are into Fozzy on board. 

The Hot Damn! are one of them rare bands that I was instantly hooked on from the first song. They bring to the table this pick n mix take on Pop Rock, Hard Rock and Americana borrowing songwriting tropes from the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Kim Wilde and Ginger Wildheart. Their songs are meticulously written to provide a feel good pay off through their use of catchy, inoffensive yet utterly brilliant, vocals, vocal harmonies and stabby guitars, to provide a party atmosphere that was as Infectious as it was technically impressive.  

Upon doing my research prior to seeing them, I feel like I was a bit harsh to The Hot Damn!, finding them excessively cheesy and a little bit cringe when it comes to lyrical content, however after seeing what they’re about, it all makes sense in a live setting. This cheesiness plays into their end goal and as a result I’ll have to hold my hands up and say my reservations were greatly misjudged. Songs such as ‘I Didn’t Like You Anyway’ and ‘Live Laugh Love’ become completely different beasts when transposed from headphone to stage and the results left me smiling from ear to ear. This was just 40 minutes of pure, unapologetic fun, and the type of fun that’s needed and often overlooked in a genre full of Primadonnas, seriousness and ego. I’ll be sure to check The Hot Damn! out again the next chance i can. There’s nothing much else I can say, except if you’re given an opportunity yourself to catch them, please do.  

And that brings us on to the Main event. Chris Jericho and Fozzy. Prior to tonight I’d heard rumblings of Fozzy taking a heavily stylised approach to their performance, opting to use autotune, backing tracks and enough Polish to keep Cif in business for another decade. Unfortunately these rumours were true and this overly stylised approach rid tonight’s performance of any authenticity, instead coming across as  a 90 minute artificial, ego fuelled attempt at wish fulfillment in the form of Chris Jericho Karaoke. Sure, some of Fozzy’s material is okay, sometimes bordering on pretty decent, but it couldn’t help but feel soured by this attempt to create something that exceeds the natural artistic capabilities of its makers.  

Naturally, Jericho excels as a frontman. Those of him who know him via his work as a wrestler, knows he possesses a silver tongue through his larger than life persona’s. This is meticulously transposed into his work as vocalist, with Jericho acting as spokesman, conductor, ringleader and MC without even breaking a sweat. When it comes to vocals however, a lot of the heavy lifting is done by the rest of Fozzy. There were many times throughout the performance that vocal depth was created by the efforts of backing vocals from the Rich Ward, Billy Grey and P.J Farley. Wether this was to allow Jericho to continue his antics as a frontman or to plaster over the cracks of his vocal talent, remains to be seen, but it was those 3 guys that provided the layers for Jericho to build upon.  

When it comes to the band behind Jericho, when you strip away all of the bells and whistles, there is an incredibly competent band there. Long tenured lead guitarist Rich Ward just oozes cool with his predominately laid back on stage persona, making what he does look easy, whilst the tones coming out of PJ Farleys bass as a stadium esque level of depth. These components to Fozzy’s game are vitally important to create the classic, ground thumping, groove that Fozzy are renowned for and when done, it’s done very very well. None of the added elements of production are necessary and are just distractions that hinder the performance and take away from it’s believability.  

The main antagonist of these production choices however we’re in the form of the drums. I’ve never seen a hard rock band perform using an electric drumkit, and when I spotted it before the band even came on to the stage, I couldn’t help but think “for fucks sake”. Whilst drummer Grant Brooks was clearly hitting these cymbals, there was just no life in them. You couldn’t pick out a crash cymbal from a ride cymbal, a hi hat, from a China. He could’ve hit whatever drum in whatever order and the sound coming from the speakers would’ve been the same. It is this lack of authenticity and reliance on creating an overtly professional end product that just makes Fozzy so.. Fake. They just don’t come across as a band who have endured the trials and tribulations of their contemporaries, there’s no grit, there’s no underdog spirit, it all seems like it could’ve been bought in an IKEA showroom as a flat pack “create your own rock band”.  

That’s not to take away from the enjoyment of everyone else in the room however. Fozzy were treated like champions tonight, there was an electric atmosphere in the room, with frequent chants of “FOZZY FOZZY FOZZY” echoing around the room any time there was a moment of reprieve on stage and they are obviously a well loved band. Their song ‘Judas’ has immense sing along potential and it is obvious why it has become such a beloved song in the world’s of Wrestling and Hard Rock. The chorus is one of those choruses that if played over a PA System during turnaround time at another concert, the whole room would sing along as if their life depended on it. It’s lightning in a bottle, and it’s these moments that Fozzy need to capture and build upon to have that back catalogue ready and prepared for their next go around instead of spending their time dealing with indulgence and shiny finishes.  

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Fozzy, The Hot Damn!, Pistols at Dawn